


Jealous Guy

by AssyPiff



Category: Peter Kay's Car Share (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 13:04:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15413538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AssyPiff/pseuds/AssyPiff
Summary: Chapter 1 is a stream of consciousness piece set mid Season 1 from John's perspective, musing about the little flashes of jealousy he shows especially towards Kayleigh's online dating and Ted 2.





	Jealous Guy

John had never considered himself a jealous person. He never envied anyone anything they had and generally wished people luck with their new relationships or houses or holidays whatever. He was a man content with his life. That was until Kayleigh Kitson came into his life throwing her piss all over him. Despite that John found himself growing ever more fond of the woman who he drove to and from work every day. Like most people she was a complex mix of character traits that when added together he found himself falling for before he was even conscious of the fact.

One thing that Kayleigh was, that he certainly wasn't, was determined to find someone to spend her life with. He was better off without love, all women were just psychos who messed you about was his experience and it would take someone very special to change his mind. He didn't anticipate coming across anyone remotely worth giving up his solitary existence for so didn't worry about it. He would indulge in the very occasional one night stand when the opportunity presented itself, a man has needs after all, but he certainly never had any intention of progressing any such liaison beyond that of a quick physical release. 

The first inkling John had of caring about who Kayleigh was seeing happened in the blink of an eye on their first morning together. Kayleigh had mentioned getting some Mac 3 for her Kieran. For a millisecond John felt his heart sink until she said that Kieran was her brother. Seriously why should he care? He didn't even know the woman! He had seen her around the store obviously, pleasant but way too talkative and bubbly was his assessment before they had been paired together for the car share scheme. 

He hadn't been wrong, she was way too chatty, especially in the morning. However they soon discovered a mutual love for music, 80's music in particular, which had them singing together happily on their commute. Kayleigh had unconsciously stumbled upon the great love of his life. John has an encyclopedic knowledge of the music of the 80's onwards and whilst Kayleigh 's knowledge was nowhere near as extensive, she sang with him unselfconsciously and with an openness he found himself enjoying more and more.

Kayleigh was serious about finding someone to be with and was as open about that with him as she was with everything else. He really wishes she wouldn't tell him all about her adventures in the whole dating game. He really didn't want to hear about the "Pikey with moobs," or about " Japsi" or "The Pussy Lover". The thought of her dating these losers made him very uncomfortable. One of these days she was going to get herself into trouble with one of these pricks that she wouldn't get out of. She didn't deserve that. It wasn't as if any of them hid their intentions. It was obvious to anyone but Kayleigh what they were after. But there was Kayleigh with her naivity and her determination to see the best in people, not seeing what was right in front of her, getting her hopes up only to get them dashed over and over again. Kayleigh was braver than him, John realised. At least she was putting herself out there. Unlike him she wasn't hiding behind heartbreak. She was at least trying. She knew what she wanted and was going for it.

John knew what he wanted, a simple life without women complicating things, and that is exactly what he got. Well that was what he thought he wanted. Kayleigh was changing his mind by degrees. At first he didn't want a car share buddy. Then he found he didn't mind so much. He didn't want another friend, then he found he looked forward to hearing what Kayleigh has to say about things and tales about her life. He didn't want to share his life with her but then he found himself wanting to tell her about the times he took Sophie to Beavers or picking his mum up from the airport. 

It's not as if John wasn't aware of the mass of contradictions he had become. He was very aware of how he was slowly but surely being sucked into Kayleigh's orbit without any means of freeing himself. He was being inexorably drawn to her and the thing is, he's loving it. Every time she made him laugh she unconsciously chipped away at the concrete wall he had erected around himself. Chipped away until there was a hole big enough to climb through.The hole she had made in his armour made him vulnerable to the jealousy he had started feeling, especially towards Ted 2.

Who could blame him? When he had heard that Barbara Bask's eldest lad had been taken on to collect the trolleys at short notice, John had expected a small bespectacled lad to turn up, instead a bronzed Adonis had appeared from behind Old Ted's mourners with his film star good looks and washboard stomach. John couldn't help himself but compare himself to Ted 2. Let's face it all the men in the store were doing it just as all the women were finding excuses to cart very small items around in very large trolleys and then loitering in the car park so they could grab a quick word with him. John knew that he could never measure up to Ted 2 in the looks department and Kayleigh never failed to remind him of that fact every time she spotted him in the car park. He noticed that she was always fluffing her hair or putting on her lip balm when the were approaching the staff car park. He was getting heartily sick of it. 

John had joked with Kayleigh that Ted 2 might want an older woman and knew that he could have his pick of any woman in the Greater Manchester area let alone the store but somehow Kayleigh always found an excuse not to talk to him. John had told her to talk to him to put them all out of their misery. But of course he'd meant his own! If Ted 2 had any sense he would grab Kayleigh with both hands and she would not look back at him twice. Then he would be well and truly put out of his misery. His small flicker of hope would be extinguished forever and he would be back to his normal lonely self, unencumbered by his not entirely platonic thoughts of his car share buddy.

John thinks that the trouble with women when they have a male friend is that they tend to forget that they are talking to a man. Women forget that men react differently when you tell them that you are talking to them in no bra, or they start talking to you about their "Lady Problems". Men don't empathise, in fact they don't hear anything past, " hang fire I haven't got me bra on yet!" Men have the mental image of you topless and their poor brains can hold no other thought. So when Kayleigh is drooling over the Chippendale Trolley Collector he takes this very much as a clear sign she does not and will never fancy him. And this feeds his jealousy and resentment even more. 

Men don't want to know who you fancy if it's not them. They are creatures with fragile egos and John was no exception. In fact he could be held up as an exemplary example of the breed. Part of his plan to not to engage romantically with women was to do with self preservation. He was well aware that he wasn't anything special so if he didn't put himself out there he wouldn't be rejected.

Like everyone else he was flattered when a woman took an interest. Rachel at work had been sniffing around and at first his interest was piqued, she was an attractive blonde after all. Kayleigh was none too impressed. She'd called her a slapper who would go for anything with a pulse. Well thank you very much John thought. That's all I'm good for is it? A rung on the ladder? Although John had joked that she sounded jealous, John didn't really entertain the possibility that Kayleigh would be jealous of him going out with Rachel. Why would she even care? She had made it clear her type was young fit men not big boned men fast approaching middle age. And yet they had this connection that he couldn't explain. They just got on.

Seeing Kayleigh 's reaction to his even just chatting to Rachel let alone him going out for a drink with her, John started to formulate a plan.


End file.
